Vioxx scandal hurts pharma promotion

The Vioxx scandal means trouble for pharmaceutical and biotech companies' 2005 marketing and sales, Florida-based Strategic Research Institute said Friday.

Other factors negatively affecting the industry is a lack of new blockbuster drugs, market fragmentation and pricing/re-importation pressures, the institute said.

All have converged to create a business climate "dramatically different from that of the 1990s when double-digit earnings and flood of new drugs were common."

The Strategic Research Institute creates, produces and manages conferences covering industry specific business-to-business topics.

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